Senate backtracks on its decision to snub Buhari’s nominees

OrderPaperToday – The Senate has soft-pedaled onits decision to halt the confirmation of presidential nominees, in order to allow for the approval of appointees for the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This followed a plea by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking and Finance, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim (APC, Kwara), who urged his colleagues to make an exception to the CBN nominees as it will help boost the economy.

He said: “I rise to ask that the Senate do consider the possibility of us considering a very important aspect of the economy which is the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The MPC is made up of 12 members, seven from the private sector and five from the central bank.

“As at today, only three of them have valid tenures, the tenure of the others expired in December last year and this culminated in the MPC meeting not being held in January (22nd and 23rd), the next meeting is March 19 and 20.

“I want to appeal to our colleagues, we have three (confirmation) requests regarding the Board of the Central Bank, and two of them are for the position of deputy governors who are also members of the MPC.”

Ibrahim added that the current impasse is already affecting direct foreign investment in the country as some interested investors have been forced to leave.

Other Senators who spoke also appealed to their colleagues to consider the nominations of the CBN deputy governors who are also members of the MPC.

The red chamber resolved to make a concession to pave the way for the confirmation of the two deputy governors and other members of the MPC.

While speaking to journalists after plenary, the Spokesperson of the Senate, Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger) assured that the nominees would be confirmed before the next meeting of the MPC.

Damilola is an award-winning Writer, Researcher, and Community/Sustainable Development Practitioner. His interests and experience span across media, academics, human capital development, and strategic planning.
An alumnus of the prestigious Lagos Business School, Damilola's writing work on violent extremism in Nigeria won a PeaceWriteNow prize, presented by the Embassy of Ireland in June, 2018.